Monthly Archives: January 2014

I have been busy the past few weeks catching up on some book reviews for http://www.ingridhall.com and one of my recent favourite’s was Dark Messages by Daniel J Weber. Daniel is a Canadian writer whose oeuvre is horror fiction, in particular fantastical horror. He is taking part in a year-long campaign to promote talented indie writers: Indie and Proud.

Dark Messages a short story anthology by Daniel J Weber

Dark Messages is a slender volume containing 6 tales of horror, fantasy and allegory, many addressing issues of self-esteem and the omniscience of death.

The first thing I should say is that this is a very short collection, coming in at only 42 pages, but good things come in small packages, as they say! Weber takes the reader on a dark roller-coaster of a ride, intense, surreal, visceral even visionary at times. Yes, he uses some blood and guts horror, but a lot of the horror stems from the mind and how people perceive themselves, how they react to each other and their environment.

The first story, Undying Memories, depicts a grieving mother trapped in side her own grief and memories. She appears as lost as her dead son, lying trapped beneath the waters of a lake. The forest setting and the allegorical and deadly wolf that stalks her, and the timeless quality of this story, create the atmosphere of a claustrophobic fairy tale where there will be no happy endings.

A Mile in My Shoes was another intriguing, almost surreal, tale of a man who inherits a collection of shoes and finds he can ‘feel’ the lives of those who wore them. From the emptiness of his grandfather and his dead-mans’ shoes, to the shoes of a delinquent dispossessed boy; until he finds the shoes that really fit, and brings the story full circle.

My favourite story was Master of Death. This was a surreal story where the narrator/observer watches a tattered man struggling through the desert in a final battle of wills with death. The story is as wild and intense as the desert wind that whips through it, with Breughel-esque imagery repleat with lakes of blood. My other favourite tale was They Know Not What they do, an odd choice for me as it has a very Christian theme. Weber creates an emotional re-imagining of the crucifixion complete with warring demons scenting victory as the failed Saviour doubts himself on the cross. Doubt, fear, redemption – it’s all there!

Asides from the exploration of self-esteem, one of the predominant themes in this collection was the power of death: always stalking you, seldom bested – a suitably dark message and one which was handled in a beautifully dark and Gothic, yet thoughtful manner.

Occasionally the stories were a little over-blown, and occasionally a bit opaque in their message, but overall I think this represents a very strong, thoughtful and gripping collection of tales, told in a very vivid and at times quite moving style. My biggest gripe was that there were only 6 stories in the collection – I could easily have read more.

This is a very passionate article about an important issue. Modern witches still face many cultural and legal prejudices – Shawnus, a 3* high priest is currently engaging the Christian biased state laws of Pennsylvania for the right to perform legal marriages as an ordained witch.

As you all know i am Shawnus Merlin Belarion 3rd* High Priest of the Coven of the Catta. I started my path 33 years ago and about 7 years later attained this level of initiation. There are three others at the level of 3rd* HPTs and HPSs who are active in our coven.

I and others are also registered online as a minister in the Universal Life Church which does not mean much to Federal, State or County governments, but i still encourage everyone who is part of a “fringe religion” as society thinks we are to become a minister through them and to support their cause.

Our coven has a Handfasting ritual and i can Handfast anyone who asks. But that is a Witch ritual, not a legal marriage. There are two pagan friends of mine who May decide to get legally married some…

The Shadow People (2012): Film by Matthew Arnold

SPOILER ALERT: if you are planning on watching this movie, then avoid this post!!

The other day I was just browsing through YouTube when I came across the straight to DVD, 2012 horror film, the Shadow People. Initially I was a little wary about watching the film as I am not known for being one of the bravest people when it comes to scary films (I am completely unable to watch anything to do with voodoo or demonic possession without hiding behind a cushion or friend). So I was a little concerned about what effect the film would have on my overactive imagination. The clinch was that the film opened up in Cambodia and being at the moment a resident of that country, I was immediately hooked. I mean there are not many films of any genre that begin in Cambodia!

The story follows the experiences of world weary loser, late night radio talk show host Charlie Crowe played by the excellent Dallas Roberts. Crowe’s graveyard slot is under threat due to low listener figures. That is until he receives a phone call from frightened teenager, Jeff Pyatt. Jeff is terrified of unseen forces that come for him when he falls asleep. Charlie dismisses it initially as a crank call. Soon afterwards he receives a mysterious package on his doorstep containing pictures of what looks like an experiment from the late 70s being conducted on the sleeping forms of a number of men of South East Asian origins. That same night Charlie again receives a call from Jeff who claims to be holding a gun. During the conversation a gunshot is heard. The boy is found alive and admitted to hospital for his own safety. Charlie is convinced by his radio bosses to interview the boy. When he arrives at the hospital, he finds out that Jeff had died in his sleep, an event which has baffled the medical personnel as Jeff was physically healthy when he was brought in. This leads Charlie on a one man campaign to find out the truth behind the boy’s death, the photographs and the phenomenon known as the Shadow People.

Nosferatu, Dir. FW Mirnau, 1922

Through his research Charlie becomes increasingly convinced that the Shadow People are real. Eventually Charlie begins to see them for himself and discovers that they feed of delta waves emanating from the brain. Along the way he is joined by a sceptical CDC investigator, Sophie Lacombe (Alison Eastwood). Together they find an old film of the 1970s experiments which contains footage of something that looks to be a moving shadow. Crowe insists that this is the definitive proof he has been searching for and wants to reveal the evidence to the world, Lacombe is less sure. She still maintains the 1970s deaths were due to a medical condition known either as Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome or Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS). Lacombe believes that the recent spate of deaths are the result of the placebo effect i.e. if you believe something is real, it becomes real. This leads to the crux of the story, that whether or not SUNDS is a supernatural or medical condition is actually irrelevant as is the existence of Shadow People, instead it is the power of the mind which is the dangerous factor.

The film’s theme which brings together the two separate strands of medical versus supernatural is summoned up neatly by Jeff who asks the chilling question:

“how do you stop thinking about something?”

True story or clever fabrication?

The movie itself claims to be based on true events and in order to give the story credibility it begins with interviews of people (some of whom believe in the existence of Shadow People whilst others are sceptical) talking about having watched the clip of the 1970s experiment on Youtube.

The film also presents itself as a docudrama as it intersperses the dramatization with ‘real life’ footage of the actual events and people as well as interviews with a number of experts on the phenomenon. The director, Matthew Arnold asserted in an interview that the film is based on his own experience and subsequent research,

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, 1781

“I woke up one night, and my body was totally paralyzed. I felt like my body was asleep, but I was awake, and could see a shadowy person standing over me. I finally yelled and willed my body to get up, and the figure shot through the wall. What the hell just happened?”*

I personally could not find the film of the experiments on Youtube but this may be due to my own incompetence rather than to its non-existence. Some comments that I have read of people who have watched the clip have stated that it was published on Youtube at roughly the same time as the release of the film and that the number of viewers recorded was way down on the figure shown at the beginning of the film.

Real footage or a clever marketing tool?

The Great Beast himself

One of the many things that did not ring true was the depiction of the doctor, Professor Aleister Ravenscroft. I mean could you ever imagine a more sinister name and any name more suited to a gothic novel. Not to mention his first name ‘Aleister’ immediately makes me think of Aleister Crowley the British occultist and for many one of the most menacing characters of the 20th century. Add to this a strong German accent and you have a prime candidate for either a Hammer Horror film or a part in the Rocky Horror Show! Turning to the ‘real’ footage and interviews, I have to admit that I was confused. I personally think it is fake as I felt that some of the sub plot themes were just too clichéd. In particular Crowe’s depiction as a loser with a failed marriage and a son he can’t relate to i.e. loser in life has a chance to do something to impress his son and prove his worth but instead sacrifices his own happiness for the good of all!

Even though I have a hard time believing it, I have to admit that it was cleverly done. Using less attractive unknown ‘actors’ to convincingly play the roles and the slight differences between the ‘real’ and dramatized scenes definitely gives the documentary side a more realistic feel. The end obituary note which shows a photograph of the ‘real’ Crowe is for me a step too far as it then gets you thinking, if others who just listened to his show were targeted how did Crowe who was obsessed with them survive and what did he really die of?

After scouring the internet for photos or information about the ‘real’ Crowe, I wound up empty handed. I did find a Charlie Crowe, footballer and a Charlie Crow, DJ but neither bear any resemblance to the guy in the film. If he really existed surely after the film’s release there would be something on the internet about him!

An effective horror film…

Despite everything I have said above, I do actually believe the film is a good horror story. I mean I went to bed reluctant to turn off the lights and the film did play on my imagination for a while afterwards (but as I said in the beginning I am easily frightened, just ask Leonora!). I also find the tagline of “how do you stop thinking about something?” very effective and thought provoking.

On the other hand I found the ‘documentary footage’ which constantly cuts into the film jarring. Other people have enjoyed this device but personally I found it interrupted the building tension as every time I started to immerse myself into the story I was immediately shaken out of it. For me I would have preferred the ‘real’ footage to have come at the end of the film. I would still recommend the film as it deserves credit for tackling a relatively obscure and unexplored topic. I would love to know what other people think!

The Cambodian connection

The Krasue or Ap spirit. source Nerdygaga

One big issue I have with the film, is the opening scene set in Cambodia. I get the feeling that whoever was responsible for this, just thought ‘what is an exotic country that we can start off in?’ and sticking a pin on a map randomly chose Cambodia. The whole scene show a complete ignorance of Khmer (Cambodian) people and culture as well as being an illogical choice. Khmer culture has a deeply rooted traditional belief in ghosts and the supernatural. Entities range from the Ap, a bodiless creature with the head of a beautiful woman whose internal organs hang down from her trachea and who is believed (vampire-like) to drink human blood to the banana tree ghost, a beautiful woman who made her home up a banana tree and died giving birth to the child of her unfaithful lover** to traditional ancestral ghosts.

Even today these beliefs are still strong and nearly all Cambodian children and adults I have spoken to claim to have seen a ghost or know of a place that is haunted. I was even told of a ghost up a coconut tree near where I work and live but the child told me that as I haven’t done anything bad I have nothing to fear. The same child also tried to reassure me with the words ‘Don’t worry teacher, one day you will be a ghost’, not sure how comforting those words were but he was being so sweet that it was hard to argue.

As in all Asian cultures, honouring ancestors is an important part of life, music is played at weddings and funerals to keep ghosts away and some families still all sleep in one bed as protection against ghosts. As a result I find it really hard to believe that over thirty years ago, just after the downfall of the Khmer Rouge when millions of Cambodians were killed and died in horrific circumstances that a mother would tell a child that he had nothing to worry about and not to pay attention to his elders.

The other question is why depict Cambodians when it is well known that it is the Hmong people and those of Filipino ethnicity whose traditional belief system ascribes the sudden death of otherwise normal healthy young men to the actions of a malignant shadow.

SUNDS: A medical condition

The medical condition SUNDS first came to the world’s attention in 1977 when a number of Hmong refugees died in the United States. The Hmong people are a particular ethnic hill tribe who are found mainly in Laos and Northern Thailand.

Another outbreak in Singapore between 1982 and 1990 saw 230 previously healthy Thai men die suddenly in their sleep (it was noted that the Thai men were of Laotian descent). In the Philippines the condition is known as “bangungot” and it is known to affect 43 out of 100,000 people. Although the condition doesn’t exclusively affect only those of South East Asian ethnicity it is more prevalent, especially amongst adolescent or young men.

Understanding of the causes of SUNDS is still at an early stage. Medical investigations on the bodies of people who have died of SUNDS have not discovered any heart abnormalities but cardiac studies conducted whilst patients were experiencing sleep paralysis before the onset of SUNDS indicates that the patients suffer from ventricular fibrillation and irregular heartbeats. Those who survive the paralysis find that their heart rhythm returns to normal on waking.

Some Filipino doctors also believe that the paralysis is due to acute haemorrhage pancreatitis (although this has yet to be accepted by the medical world). It is believed that it is during the sleep paralysis that people seem to experience shadow beings, this is before they die of SUNDS. It is funny how many people on internet forums seem to believe they have suffered from SUNDS. Surely the clue is in the name “death syndrome”, it is highly unlikely that they could have suffered from SUNDS and continue to post on the internet!

SUNDS and Superstition

For both the Hmong and Filipinos the death of healthy young men in their sleep has long been cloaked in superstition. The Hmong people of Laos ascribe the deaths to the action of a malign spirit “dab tsuam” who appears in the form of a jealous woman. In order to protect themselves against the spirit and avoid her attentions, some Hmong men will sleep dressed as a woman.

Dab Tsuam spirit, source unknown

In the Philippines these deaths are believed to be brought about by a spirit called a Batibat. These fat hag like creatures immobilise their victims by sitting on their chest or face and suffocating them. The vengeful spirit enters the home when the tree in which it reside in is cut down and made into support posts for a house. The demon migrates through holes in the pole. One way to protect a household from an attack is to forbid anyone from sleeping near a post. It is interesting that the Filipino word for SUNDS is bangungot which in the Tagalog language means both a nightmare and ‘to rise and moan in sleep’.

Many older Filipinos recommend wiggling the big toe to snap the heart back to normal (in the film, Crowe is seen to wiggle his big toe to release himself from the paralysis when under attack from a Shadow Person). Many other countries have their own names for this phenomenon for instance in Laos it is called Dab tsog and in Thailand ‘Lai Tai’ meaning to sleep and die.

The rise of the modern day mythology of the Shadow People

Nowadays, increasingly more and more people are reporting having seen Shadow People or black masses during episodes of sleep paralysis. You only have to do a google search or look at Youtube to find numerous ‘first hand’ accounts or clips claiming to have caught them on film. I am not going to go into the causes of sleep paralysis and the associated ‘Old Hag Syndrome’ as Leonora did a great analysis in her post Hikes, Hostels and the Old Hag… except to say that most medical views reiterate that shadow people are a hallucination caused by a number of factors alone or in combination including sleep paralysis, drug abuse, reactions to certain medicines, psychological trauma and sleep deprivation. A number of ‘experts’ on Shadow People have emerged, most noticeably Heidi Hollis whose appearance on the late night radio show ‘Coast to Coast AM’ has done much to popularise the subject. She spoke about dark masses with human shapes who just flicker on the edges of peripheral vision and jump on the chest of victims to choke them. Hollis’s views are based on a strong Christian belief as she asserts that they are enemies of god and can only be repelled by calling out the name of Jesus. Her view is an extremely negative one but amongst other investigators there is no consensus on whether they are evil, good or neutral.

Alliens from Plan 9 from Outerspace, Dir.Ed Wood, 1959

Other theories put forward suggest that they could be aliens, inhabitants of parallel dimensions or even time travellers. One thing which remains constant is the description of them. They are usually depicted as either wearing a long cloak or wide brimmed hat with piercing red eyes. It is not surprising that Wes Craven was so inspired by a story in the LA Times about a series of mysterious death that occurred during sleep that he used the idea of Shadow People to create his most famous character, Freddy Krueger.

And finally-a warning to the curious….

If Shadow People exist (and I am the last person to say categorically that they do not) and they feed of delta waves from people when they think about them, then to everyone who is reading this article….

That an Englishman’s home is his castle, is a well used phrase about the English love affair with their own bricks and mortar. But in the eighteenth century it might as well have been stated that an Englishman’s home was his own classical Arcadia. During that century countless English gentlemen were sent off on the Grand Tour to finish their education and many came back with a passion for all things classical, and quite often they came back with a treasure trove of antiquities as souvenirs (both authentic and fake).

Thomas Coke by Trevisani. Collection of the Earl of Leicester.

One such Grand Tourist who returned to England with a particularly spectacular classical vision was Thomas Coke (1697 1759) 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation).

Coke set off on his grand tour between 1712 -1718 and came back not only with an extensive new library, an enviable collection of art and classical sculpture, but also with a BIG idea. He planned to create a perfect Palladian country house set amidst an Arcadian Idyll in the heart of the English countryside.

During his travels he met Lord Burlington, the man who helped revive the Neo Palladian movement in Britain in the eighteenth century, and William Kent the noted Palladian architect and landscape architect.

Coke sounds like the typically Fielding-esque ‘squire Weston’ type of English gentleman – his favourite pass times were drinking, gambling and cockfighting. And despite his aristocratic wealth, he wasn’t immune from financial troubles, he suffered heavy financial losses when the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, which seriously delayed his construction plans.

Nevertheless with the help of Kent and Burlington, and a host of others, Coke set about creating one of Norfolk’s, and England’s, grandest stately homes: Holkham Hall. The Holkham estate, with its Perfect Palladian palace and landscape repleat with lake, obelisks, arches and temples was the Earls very own little piece of Italy on English soil. But despite its visual appeal, it was also an expression of the Earl’s Whig political principles – Whigs were rather fond of likening themselves to the Ancient Romans and his political allies would have recognised Holkham as much as a political statement as an aesthetic and intellectual one.

Holkham Hall, section of the Saloon, Matthew Brettingham 1761.

The hall took so long to complete that, sadly, Thomas did not live to see it finished. He died in 1759 and it was left to his indomitable widow, Lady Mary Tufton, to ensure that his plans for the hall were carried out. Holkham Hall was finally finished in 1764, five years after Thomas Coke’s death; and the grounds not until the mid-nineteenth century. The final cost of the hall has been estimated at £90,000 and this astronomical cost ensured that the hall was left virtually unaltered by subsequent heirs. Holkham Hall remains one of England’s finest Palladian Houses and is still lived in by the Coke family to this day.

Holkham Hall has long been one of my favourite Stately Homes and here are a few of my photographs, taken over a number of years. With thanks to James Blakeley for permission to reproduce his photographs. (Other images have been sourced from the internet and credited as appropriate).

Enjoy…

The Marble Hall. The hall is actually made of Derbyshire Alabaster. The coffered dome was based by an Inigo Jones design inspired by the Pantheon at Rome. Image by Lenora.

The Marble Hall. The Fluted Columns may have been based on those from The Temple of Fortuna Virilis. Image by Lenora.

Eighteenth century painting of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome. Artist GP Panini.

The Saloon. Hung with Rich red Genoa Velvet wall hangings, this plush room would have been used by Coke to entertain his Whig friends. Image James Blakeley.

Pier glass and window, the Saloon. Thomas Coke wanted a comfortable, if palatial, home. To ensure the rooms were not too cold, he limited the number of windows to just enough to light each room. Image by Lenora.

Costumes from ‘The Duchess’, starring Keira Knightley, on display in the drawing-room or Saloon. I forget which. Image by Lenora.

A corner of the terrace garden viewed through glass on a rainy day. Image by Lenora.

Rather than corridors, the rooms are enfiladed and open on to each other. Image by Lenora.

The Landscape Room. On his Grand Tour Thomas Coke collected many fine landscape paintings by Claude Lorrain and Poussin. Image by James Blakeley.

The Long Library. Coke brought home many books from his Grand Tour. This is now the Coke family’s main sitting room. Image by Lenora.

Even such a grand house has its cosy corners. Image by Lenora.

A classical bookcase in one of the Tribunes. Image by Lenora.

The Green State Bedroom (bed not visible). Image by James Blakeley

The Parrot Bedroom so-called because of the Frans Snyders painting of Parrots and Macaws that hangs on the wall. Image by Lenora.

Chandelier in the North Tribune. The tribune leads to the gallery that houses the sculptures brought back from the Grand Tour by Thomas Coke. Image by Lenora.

View of one of the interior courtyards tucked away in the Hall. Image by Lenora.

The Chapel in the hall. Designed by Matthew Brettingham snr. Image by James Blakeley.

Cast Iron Kettle from the Old Kitchens. Image by Lenora.

The south face of Holkham Hall. Image by Lenora.

Before refrigerators were invented, those who could afford it had ice houses for storing ice. Image by Lenora.

The grounds were begun in 1729 before the construction of the hall; the the Obelisk which is 80ft high and dominates the parkland was built in 1730 to commemorate this. Image by Paul C. via Wikimedia.

The Doric Temple sited within Obelisk Woods which were planted in the 1720’s and 30’s. Image Xavier de Jauréguiberry by via Pinterest

The Triumphal Arch, designed by William Kent in 1739 and built in 1752. Image by Xavier de Jauréguiberry via Pinterest.

St Withburga Church, half a mile from the hall. Situated on the site of the medieval village of Holkham, the church dates from the 13th Century. It has the flint facings typical of Norfolk churches. Image by Lenora.

Broken Mirrors Fractured Minds, edited by Carmilla Voiez was published in 2013. Here is my review which was originally posted on www.ingridhall.com on 12 November 2013.

About the Author

Carmilla Voiez is an exciting new horror writer whose work often tackles taboo subjects from a distinctly female perspective. She is the winner of the Horror Author of the year 2013 for her first novel Starblood. In this anthology of horror, published by Vamptasy, she brings together 21 talented horror writers, poets and artists from both sides of the Atlantic to create a unique collection of darkly disturbing tales.

Broken Mirrors Fractured Minds edited by Carmilla Voiez

This is a great little collection of thoroughly disturbing tales, poetry and art. Less Twilight and more Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft. A boon for horror fans fed up with mopey werewolves and angst ridden teen-vampires that have seemed to dominate the supernatural fiction market for so long. These works grab you by the throat and take no prisoners – exploring the dark labyrinths of disturbed or damaged minds and tackling some very distressing subjects head on. Murder, psychosis, child abuse and self-harm all form part of subject matter for these well executed short stories and poems. The written horror is accentuated by the beautifully deranged art work whose tortured figures seem to illustrate the inner worlds of the stories and poems.

Because this collection contains the work of 21 writers and artists it would be impossible for me to do justice to each one of them, so I will select a few of my favourites.

The first story that grabbed me, was ‘Just a Kiss Away’ by Jef with One F. This is the tale of a man adrift after a divorce. His dislocation from real-life and his growing obsession with a lap dancer called Dolly are explored. One of the most exceptional things about this story was the character Dolly, who could be viewed simply as a disturbing incarnation of woman as sex-object, but came across as an individual despite her extrordinary disability. That the author can make Dolly a believable character and persuade the reader to suspend disbelief is surely a sign of what an exceptional writer he is.

The next story that I particularly enjoyed was ‘Wand Therapy’ by Fred McGavran which was a terrifying and gory exploration of the deranged world of a Halcion popping retiree and the power he feels resides in a mysterious crystal wand purchased by his wife. ‘Mouse and Katt’ by John Tucker was another story that particularly stood out for me as it created two dysfunctional but ultimately likeable protagonists in the story of an abused runaway hitching a ride with a strange travelling salesman – neither one quite sure who will be victim, who the killer. The wonderfully Poe-esque prose of ‘Rainier Dreams’ by Marten Hoyle and ‘The Changeling’ a deliciously seductive tale by Carmilla Voiez were also stand out stories.

The poems were just as shocking and intense as the prose. The angry intimacy of First Therapy by Nelson Mongiovi was a very powerful insight into the aftermath of abuse while the concise elegance of Life and Deathtrip by Stefy Janeva was darkly beautiful.

As I said, it would be impossible to do justice to every writer, poet and artist in the collection. I thoroughly enjoyed (and was disturbed) by most of the works in this collection, every piece was well executed. Some of the stories stayed with me well after I finished reading them, and I will definitely be re-reading this collection and seeking out further works by the featured writers and artists.

Broken Mirrors Fractured Minds edited by Carmilla Voiez is available from Amazon: